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Why What Others Think of You Actually Does Matter!

The general Norm today as we most often see in motivational phrases, regarding our attitude to life and to things both in public and private is that: in whatever we say, and in whatever we do, what people think about us doesn’t matter.

“It doesn’t matter what other people think. The only opinion that really matters is yours. We are all the writers of our lives….” –Sherrilyn Kenyon

Absolutely! This is truer than true. Why, because time spent caring and working our heads up about what people thought about us is time spent worrying and forgetting to actually live! Imagine being given that very tragic privilege of having a tour round people’s minds just to know what they actually thought about you. Tragic, because most of the time our instincts are always right – everything unpleasant! Now when the mind conceives this and makes every negative thought from people about us, it becomes our truth which is a failed journey towards positivity!

However, the assessment of others cannot be weighed just as in all circumstances, especially when opinions are formed by family and close ones. Sometimes, making a decision that goes against the opinions of friends, family or loved ones would mean disregarding their stand in our life and would cost us the close bond we share with them. Hence, we learn to listen and pay more attention to those who we believe got our back, because they are the ones who remain through thick and thin and will be there to weigh in with us on our advancement, discover approaches to propel us into becoming better, and also serve as that motivational force, hauling us towards our desired life objectives. Yet, in the end, when we try to put into consideration the opinions of others, we still fall back to the realization and conclusion that we are the only ones with the opinions that truly does matter! This is because since we cannot reach perfection, we feel safer with our thoughts and actions because although people may judge us, we couldn’t judge ourselves, and this helps in boosting our self-confidence.

“You only get one shot at life. Don’t let what other people say or think get you down. It’s irrelevant and they are irrelevant”

And this is the norm, this is the standard of living, this is true, but wait– Not entirely!

While what others say of you could in most cases, be disregarded, the truth here is- WHAT OTHERS THINK OF YOU ACTUALLY DOES MATTER AND SHOULD NOT BE DISREGARDED. The acceptance of this truth is the beginning of Change. Accepting this truth is not to give into conformity but to become aware of your short-comings and work towards making amends. It is only cowardly to choose to live in denial of our own negativity pretending that we don’t care what people think about us. We cannot by ourselves know ourselves and that’s why we need a mirror to see ourselves as we truly are. In life, people are the mirror in which we use to view ourselves and it is important to put into consideration how others perceive us, regardless of the fact that we don’t agree with their perception of us. This is because by our social behaviour, we are being observed and a general assessment of us is being drawn in the minds of people from our everyday association. Thus, when a good amount of people have a specific perception of you, they are likely to be correct. At this point, it matters not what you think but what they think of you.

What people think of us is indeed a big part of who we are and since actions, they say, speaks louder than words; it is our actions that judge us and not them. Life is like a market and our character traits which are the pillars of our reputation are like a brand in which we have to protect because it’s a busy world and unfortunately, every book must somehow be judged by its cover. Since we cannot begin to correct people’s notion about us in the long run, it’s best to prevent any such behaviours that would cause a dent to one’s reputation or give people a wrong notion of us. Just as a brand is fiercely protected from any form of infringement, one’s reputation needs to be safeguarded too.

This falls back to making good use of people’s thoughts and if you may, their criticisms too because letting it slide will not only procure an awful reputation for you in the long haul but will also wither any possibilities of change and progress. In most cases, you simply need to consider another person’s opinion of you and if you perceive them to be right, you must decide for yourself that it’s an ideal time to make a change!

As we empower ourselves to live our best lives, escaping balls of opinions thrown towards us becomes a means of survival. Whilst it is important not to measure ourselves by the standards and opinions of others, it is also important to know when to gravitate towards positive opinions so as to be one step ahead towards personal self-growth.

Weekend Digest:“A person is a person through other persons” – Archbishop Desmond Tutu

What a way to start the morning. I think I see the writers point of view, no matter how we might not care about what others think or say of us, there are still some people’s opinion we might tend to give a second thought too to certain peoples opinion.
” we cannot by ourselves know ourselves & that’s why we need a mirror to see ourselves as we truly are…” and
” it is also important to know when to gravitate towards positive opinions so as to be one step ahead towards personal self -growth” this two quoted lines above just had me. Nice and well written article Nonye. I am already energised for the morning.

I absolutely love this comment by Tessadogbor. While it may be okay to buy the fact that society serves as a mirror to you, I don’t – absolutely do not – buy that what they say and how often they may say it should serve as a purpose for change. Becos, believe it or not, there are impressions people will get about you that can only be gotten from the distance of those who don’t know you well. And so, what they say becomes a result of guesswork and perceptions, which could be wrong.
So while listening and taking into advisement what is said about you, changing ultimately falls on what you think.

Walt shakes, I appreciate your thoughts. However, just as people’s opinion matter, it is also a matter of relevance. Just as I said earlier, it takes wisdom to be able to discern what to give heed to and what to ignore. Whether people at distant get better impressions about you than those close to you, they are still people so its still about wisdom and relevance.

Thanks for introducing another point to it Tessa. Indeed, not every word that spews from people stand to benefit us, sometimes it is out of spite or envy. Hence, we must be careful in discerning which to pay heed to. Only takes the wisdom of God. Thanks once again for your enlightenment.

Who cares what people think, all that matters is what you think about yourself, how you feel about yourself. No one is perfect and life is a journey towards perfection. small bricks make a beautiful palace. I don`t think opinion always matters. There are times when you need to make a good impression like in a interview. This is question that can either be right or wrong. Opinion matters when you are giving a presentation. Opinion matters when a guy talks with a gal. Opinion does not mater when you are with your close ones like family , friends. Opinion does not mater when you are writing a work like this. Opinion does not matter when you want to live a peaceful life, you only worry when some one comments or talks bad about you. Opinion does not matter when you did what is right . Let me shut up for now…this will continue all day long. The opinion about me after this comment may matter or may not matter to you. It is all in the perception, the way we see things.

Haha! Whether the opinion about you may or may not matter is a matter of choice and since its in the perception like you rightly said, I choose that your opinion matters 🙂 Thanks for introducing the different ways opinions should and should not matter. I’d only add that if opinions do not matter when you did what is right, don’t forget also that “right” and “wrong” is relative. We can’t always draw the line between them, here relevant opinions would matter.